MoviePass Vs. AMC

Written by: James Barnes

MoviePass has recently removed access to several major AMC theaters, including the AMC Central City 15 in Los Angeles; AMC Mercado 20 in Santa Clara, Calif; AMC Disney Springs 24 in Orlando, FL; AMC Loews Boston Common 19 in Boston; AMC River East 21 in Chicago; AMC Mission Vally 20 in San Diego; AMC Tysons Corner 16 in McLean, VA; AMC Veterans 24 in Tampa; and the AMC Loews Alderwood Mall 16 in Lynwood, Wash.

MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe issued a statement in response to reports, saying, " As of today, you'll see a small handful of theaters are no longer available on our platform . Our number one goal as a company is to provide an accessible price-point for people to enjoy films the way they're meant to be seen: on the big screen. Many exhibitors have been receptive to this mission, and we're excited to keep working with theater chains that are closely aligned with our customer services values."

"As we continue to strive for mutually-beneficial relationships with theaters, the list of theaters we work with is subject to change,"Lowe said. "We advise customers to always double check the MoviePass app for the most up-to-date list of participating theaters."

AMC recently changed their terms and conditions stating that they will no longer allow customers paying with a MoviePass card to use their stubs membership to earn points, even though those points can only be redeemed to purchase tickets and concessions at AMC Theaters.

MoviePass allows subscribers to pay $9.95 a month to watch 1 movie every calendar day while MoviePass pays the theaters full price for the movie ticket. MoviePass currently represents approximately 62% of AMC's operating income. AMC claims that each customer spends on average $4.88 on each visit - meaning MoviePass subscribers could bring an additional $17.1 Million in AMC concession revenues for Q1 of 2018. AMC has nothing to lose and everything to gain from MoviePass and it's subscribers, so this new policy change doesn't make any sense to me.